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Culture News

What is the #ProtestTheRoze Movement on Warzone?

Warzone players are banning together to protest an unfair in-game skin design

Warzone's Roze Skin

While initially labeled at launch as a gritty and realistic foil to other battle royale games like Fortnite and Apex Legends, the colorful cosmetics offered in Call of Duty Warzone's 5th seasoncome across like the company wasn't even trying.

Warzone players, who for too long were forced to clad their avatars in a muted range of camo and tactical gear, are now allowed to decorate their characters with a little more zest. They can throw a golden wrestling mask on, spew gold blood, and by season six could dress up as Saw, Leatherface, and Freddy Krueger as part of a lighthearted Halloween bundle. But with all the fun additions, there remained one skin in particular that has lived in infamy ever since.

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Culture Feature

8 Video Games So Terrible They Canceled the Sequels

Here are eight video games so bad they got canned for good.

Call of Duty: Ghosts

Successful video games are often followed by multiple sequels.

Like Halo and Call of Duty, many of the biggest blockbuster video games are multi-entry franchises. Needless to say, there remain plenty of games that had big plans for franchises but were so terrible that those plans were quickly shelved. Here are eight video games so bad they got canned for good.

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bad video games
CULTURE

An Ode to the PlayStation 2

Great games are not limited to great graphics.

Photo by Nikita Kostrykin on Unsplash

Older video games rarely hold up in retrospect—at least graphically.

While plenty of older video games feature phenomenal gameplay that continues to stay relevant decades later, technology has moved quickly enough that older graphics look borderline ridiculous in comparison to the modern stuff. Of course, there are exceptions—8-bit and 16-bit era aesthetics will always remain popular within certain niches—but as soon as video games began aiming for more realistic graphics, the medium cursed itself with the never-ending whims of technological advancement

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popular

An Old Gamer Recommends Classic Video Games to Gen-Z

Allow an elder millennial gamer to show you young'uns the ropes.

SSX 3

Eurogamer.net

2020 marks the expected release for both Sony and Microsoft's next generation consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Even better, both companies have promised potential buyers backwards compatibility with games from past console generations. So when Pandora's Box of old school video games is opened for the masses, what games should Gen Z prioritize to dust off the digital cobwebs? Allow an elder millennial to show you young'uns the ropes.

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video games
CULTURE

The 4 Best Ways to Boycott Activision Blizzard

Activision apparently thinks mainland Chinese money is more important than basic human rights for Hong Kong, so it's time to speak with your wallets.

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

Activision Blizzard f*cked up in the "Basic Human Rights" department.

Hong Kong activists are fighting for their very freedom, no longer willing to stand for the looming threat of mainland Chinese rule. Considering mainland China is currently putting religious minorities in internment camps, the Hong Kong protesters have a very solid foundation for their concerns.

So when grandmaster-level Hearthstone player Blitzchung (real name Chung Ng Wai) used his post-match interview during a recent tournament in Taiwan to express support for Hong Kong ("Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our age"), it shouldn't have been particularly controversial. Activision Blizzard is an American company, and even diametrically opposed lawmakers like Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pretty much in agreement over support of Hong Kong protestors.

Instead, Activision Blizzard banned Blitzchung for a year, revoked his prize-winnings, and fired the two people who interviewed him. They subsequently lowered the ban to six months, but the damage was done. Their interests clearly lie more with not alienating China than with basic human rights. Bring on the Activision Blizzard boycotts. Want to help? Here are four things you can do.

1. Don't buy Overwatch for Switch

Overwatch just came out for Nintendo Switch, and Activision Blizzard is absolutely banking on the sales boost from bringing a hugely popular title to an entirely new platform. Don't buy it. If the only thing Blizzard cares about is profits, speak with your wallet and hit them where it hurts.

2. Stop making microtransactions in Blizzard games you already own

If you already own Overwatch or actively play any other Activision games like World of Warcraft or Hearthstone, that's totally fine. But if you want to support the boycott, take the no-frills approach and refrain from making any microtransactions for the time being. Halloween costume DLC will be back next year.

3. Cancel your World of Warcraft subscription

Assuming you still play World of Warcraft, cancel your subscription. Your account will stay safe, but if you're looking for a different (and better) MMO to eat up all your time, check out Final Fantasy XIV.

4. Don't play Call of Duty Mobile

Activision is heavily relying on support for their new Call of Duty Mobile game. In fact, a good portion of their reasoning for not wanting to let players speak out about Hong Kong is a desire for the game to succeed in China. Let them know that if they want the Chinese market so badly, they can have it, but they won't get the Western market too. Don't download it.

And above all, keep speaking out. Liberate Hong Kong.

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